Ishrat Jehan killed in fake encounter: SIT report

New Delhi: Special Investigation Team (SIT) today told the Gujarat High Court that Ishrat Jehan, a 19-year-old young college student, was killed in a fake encounter by the Gujarat police in 2004. After the SIT submitted its report, the High Court ordered that a complaint under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) has to be filed against those involved in the fake encounter.

However, the court decided against divulging precise details of the SIT report as it would prejudice investigations in the case. The arguments in the case will continue over the issue of who will file an FIR and investigate the case.

A division bench of the High Court comprising justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari on October 7 ,2010 had constituted the SIT last year to investigate the genuineness of the encounter after petitions were filed by Ishrat’s mother Shamima Kausar and Gopinath Pillai raising questions about the police version of the incident. The investigation was supervised directly by the High Court.

Ishrat, a 19-year-old college girl, along with Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by Ahmedabad Crime Branch on June 15, 2004. The Crime Branch had then claimed the four were members of terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba and were on a mission to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Reacting to the verdict, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai’s father Gopinath Pillai said, “We knew it since beginning that it was a fake encounter. They were kept in custody for four days and tortured. There were torture and injury marks on the body of Javed Sheikh.”